Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner
I bought this earlier this summer because my school librarians posted to Twitter that this was a good book. They have yet to steer me wrong, so I got myself a copy. So glad I did, even though there was some messy, snotty crying that went along with it.
Carver, aka Blade to his friends, has just lost his three best friends in a texting and driving accident. To make matters worse, Carver was the last person to text the driver, so he feels he is responsible for their deaths. Some others do too, and at one point, the district attorney looks into whether charges can be filed for negligent homicide. That's a lot to handle all at one time. And while all of this is important, it's not the whole premise of the book.
No, this book is about Carver saying goodbye to his friends, and find a little bit of closure so that he can move on. The idea of the goodbye days is presented to him by Nana Betsy, his friend Blake's grandmother. Because he was taken so suddenly, she didn't get to say what she needed to say, so she asks Carver if he would spend the day reminiscing about Blake with her. They did the things Blake would do with Nana Betsy, and she got to say what she needed to in order to gain some closure.
Then, Carver goes to have a goodbye day with Eli's parents. Eli had a twin sister, who thinks Carver should be held accountable for his death. Also, Carver has become good friends with Eli's girlfriend, Jesmyn, which does not sit well with Eli's dad.
The last goodbye day is with Mars' father, the judge who wanted charges brought against Carver. He didn't seem to understand that the goodbye day was to let the judge into aspects of his son's life that he didn't know about. It took some time for the judge to understand, and I do think he found some closure.
All of this was hard for Carver. He even had panic attacks and started to see a shrink. It was aggravating to me that people wanted to prosecute Carver for texting his friends. Yes, he texted them. Yes, he probably knew they'd be driving. The thing is though, no one villified the driver, Mars, for responding to the text while he was driving. That was a problem for me.
On the whole, I loved this book. I look forward to reading more from this author.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Summer '17 Book 20
The Safest Lies by Megan Miranda
I bought this because I liked another of her books so much, and then I found out it was a TAYSHAS this year too.
Kelsey is seventeen. Until she started high school, she had been homeschooled her entire life. This is because her mother is agoraphobic, stemming from being kidnapped when she was seventeen years old. Kelsey wasn't really allowed to do anything, or go anywhere because of her mother's fear.
One evening, Kelsey was headed home from school, and got into a car accident. The young fireman who helped rescue her, Ryan, is in her math class and has a bit of a crush on her. The feeling is mutual. The mayor of their town wants to honor Ryan for his efforts and Kelsey wants to go to this, but her mother forbids it. So Kelsey sneaks out. She runs into Ryan when she is coming home.
Things seem weird, as all of the "safety" measures that are on her house are not working. When Kelsey comes inside, she knows something is wrong. Her mother is missing. Then she and Ryan see people outside her house, and ultimately get into her house. Kelsey and Ryan and a couple of friends escape, but there's still no word from Kelsey's mother. The police don't believe she was kidnapped again, and Kelsey learns more about her mother than she planned.
Will her mother return? If so, where was she? What happened? Read this and find out.
I bought this because I liked another of her books so much, and then I found out it was a TAYSHAS this year too.
Kelsey is seventeen. Until she started high school, she had been homeschooled her entire life. This is because her mother is agoraphobic, stemming from being kidnapped when she was seventeen years old. Kelsey wasn't really allowed to do anything, or go anywhere because of her mother's fear.
One evening, Kelsey was headed home from school, and got into a car accident. The young fireman who helped rescue her, Ryan, is in her math class and has a bit of a crush on her. The feeling is mutual. The mayor of their town wants to honor Ryan for his efforts and Kelsey wants to go to this, but her mother forbids it. So Kelsey sneaks out. She runs into Ryan when she is coming home.
Things seem weird, as all of the "safety" measures that are on her house are not working. When Kelsey comes inside, she knows something is wrong. Her mother is missing. Then she and Ryan see people outside her house, and ultimately get into her house. Kelsey and Ryan and a couple of friends escape, but there's still no word from Kelsey's mother. The police don't believe she was kidnapped again, and Kelsey learns more about her mother than she planned.
Will her mother return? If so, where was she? What happened? Read this and find out.
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Summer '17 Book 19
How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather
It is no secret that I am incredibly fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials. Even better is when you get to read a work of fiction written by a descendant of someone involved with the trials. In this case, the author is a descendant of Cotton Mather, who wrote materials on how to determine if someone was a witch or not.
This has been described as Mean Girls meets the Salem Witch Trials, and that is not so far from the truth, except this time it is the descendants of the accused witches who are the bullies.
Samantha Mather has spent most of her life in New York City with her father and stepmother, Vivian. Recently, Sam's father fell into a coma, and he was being moved to a hospital in Boston because it was too expensive to keep living in New York with the bills mounting up. So, Sam and Vivian move to Sam's deceased grandmother's house in Salem to be closer to her father.
Things don't go so great for Sam. In the first week of school, she has earned the enmity of The Descendants--the girls and guy who are descended from the accused witches--because she is a Mather, who was partly to blame for the Witch Trials. It doesn't help that people started dying when Sam came to town.
As it turns out, there is a curse that rears its ugly head when ALL of the descendants of those involved with the Trials are in Salem. With the help of a spirit named Elijah, Sam seeks to break the curse.
I am not going further than that, but there are some interesting twists in this novel. The ending was a little bit of a surprise, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I just really loved this one, and hope that there are more like this in the future.
It is no secret that I am incredibly fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials. Even better is when you get to read a work of fiction written by a descendant of someone involved with the trials. In this case, the author is a descendant of Cotton Mather, who wrote materials on how to determine if someone was a witch or not.
This has been described as Mean Girls meets the Salem Witch Trials, and that is not so far from the truth, except this time it is the descendants of the accused witches who are the bullies.
Samantha Mather has spent most of her life in New York City with her father and stepmother, Vivian. Recently, Sam's father fell into a coma, and he was being moved to a hospital in Boston because it was too expensive to keep living in New York with the bills mounting up. So, Sam and Vivian move to Sam's deceased grandmother's house in Salem to be closer to her father.
Things don't go so great for Sam. In the first week of school, she has earned the enmity of The Descendants--the girls and guy who are descended from the accused witches--because she is a Mather, who was partly to blame for the Witch Trials. It doesn't help that people started dying when Sam came to town.
As it turns out, there is a curse that rears its ugly head when ALL of the descendants of those involved with the Trials are in Salem. With the help of a spirit named Elijah, Sam seeks to break the curse.
I am not going further than that, but there are some interesting twists in this novel. The ending was a little bit of a surprise, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I just really loved this one, and hope that there are more like this in the future.
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Summer '17 Book 18
Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist
I decided to read this because I loved his nonfiction work We Should Hang Out Sometime. This book is his first novel, and it is phenomenal!
Will is sixteen, and starting a new high school. And while that is a big deal for anybody, it's an especially big deal for Will because he is blind. Like, has never seen anything so he has no frame of reference for anything when people try to describe things to him.
On his first day, he accidentally gropes a girl on the stairwell, sits on someone and makes a girl cry. The person he sits on actually invites Will to join him and his friends at lunch, so Will makes some friends his first day. The girl he makes cry, may be the girl of his dreams.
So, Will is given this opportunity for an experimental surgery that could give him sight. He chooses to have the surgery, and begins to experience having sight for the first time. He also discovers that he has been mislead by everyone about what the girl of his dreams looks like. Really, looks don't matter, but he is more upset that everyone felt they had to hide it as if looks matter. Will and the girl have a fight, and he wants, though weeks later, to remedy things, she's not at school. Will and his friends end up driving halfway across the country to find her.
Will she accept Will's apology? Will they become an item? Read and find out.
I just want to mention what I really like about this book: it forces you to see things from the perspective of someone who has never seen anything. I might never considered things from the perspective of a blind person, and having read this, I would like to believe I would be more empathetic.
I decided to read this because I loved his nonfiction work We Should Hang Out Sometime. This book is his first novel, and it is phenomenal!
Will is sixteen, and starting a new high school. And while that is a big deal for anybody, it's an especially big deal for Will because he is blind. Like, has never seen anything so he has no frame of reference for anything when people try to describe things to him.
On his first day, he accidentally gropes a girl on the stairwell, sits on someone and makes a girl cry. The person he sits on actually invites Will to join him and his friends at lunch, so Will makes some friends his first day. The girl he makes cry, may be the girl of his dreams.
So, Will is given this opportunity for an experimental surgery that could give him sight. He chooses to have the surgery, and begins to experience having sight for the first time. He also discovers that he has been mislead by everyone about what the girl of his dreams looks like. Really, looks don't matter, but he is more upset that everyone felt they had to hide it as if looks matter. Will and the girl have a fight, and he wants, though weeks later, to remedy things, she's not at school. Will and his friends end up driving halfway across the country to find her.
Will she accept Will's apology? Will they become an item? Read and find out.
I just want to mention what I really like about this book: it forces you to see things from the perspective of someone who has never seen anything. I might never considered things from the perspective of a blind person, and having read this, I would like to believe I would be more empathetic.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Summer '17 Book 17
The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord
I came across this a few weeks ago in the meager book section of my local Target, and when I read the back cover it sounded cute. It was.
Paige is starting her junior year of high school. She wants things to be different because for the last year, she has been The Girl Whose Boyfriend Died. They hadn't dated all that long, but his tragic drowning death affected her greatly. She found it difficult to move on, and to swim.
The day before school starts, Paige runs into Ryan, who she has had a crush on forever. She makes a list of things she wants to accomplish this year, and one of those things is to date. Specifically, to date Ryan. Although they became good friends, dating was not in the cards for them.
This, as it turns out, is ok because Paige and Ryan's cousin, Max, are kinda perfect for each other. Unfortunately, they hurt each other fairly deeply right before Spring Break, and things aren't quite the same for the rest of the year. Do they fix things and end up together? Do they fix things and go their separate ways? Read this; I promise it will be worth it to find out the answers to these questions.
I came across this a few weeks ago in the meager book section of my local Target, and when I read the back cover it sounded cute. It was.
Paige is starting her junior year of high school. She wants things to be different because for the last year, she has been The Girl Whose Boyfriend Died. They hadn't dated all that long, but his tragic drowning death affected her greatly. She found it difficult to move on, and to swim.
The day before school starts, Paige runs into Ryan, who she has had a crush on forever. She makes a list of things she wants to accomplish this year, and one of those things is to date. Specifically, to date Ryan. Although they became good friends, dating was not in the cards for them.
This, as it turns out, is ok because Paige and Ryan's cousin, Max, are kinda perfect for each other. Unfortunately, they hurt each other fairly deeply right before Spring Break, and things aren't quite the same for the rest of the year. Do they fix things and end up together? Do they fix things and go their separate ways? Read this; I promise it will be worth it to find out the answers to these questions.
Friday, July 21, 2017
Summer '17 Book 16
The Merciless II: The Exorcism of Sofia Flores by Danielle Vega
Ok, so I read the first book in this series about seven months ago, and although this was out then, I was waiting to get it in paperback. I hate paying big bucks for hardbacks when it will likely only take a couple of hours to read. All told, this one didn't take long, much like its predecessor.
This one picks up roughly six months after the events in the first book. Everyone on Sofia's block is moving away because no one wants to live near the murder house. Sofia herself is battling anxiety because they never found Brooklyn, and she thinks Brooklyn is out to get her. Sofia is having one such attack and calls her mother. It's Thanksgiving, and her mother is working, but trying to get off early to be with Sofia. Sofia has some hallucinations and then blacks out. She is awakened by someone knocking on the front door. It's a police officer who has come to tell Sofia that her mother was killed in a car accident.
As Sofia is not yet eighteen, she cannot live by herself, and because her grandmother can't even take care of herself, she can't take care of Sofia too. Her only option, really, is to go to a Catholic boarding school a couple of hours away. Once there, she becomes friends with her roommates, Leena and Sutton. Leena has a forbidden pet rabbit and a crush on one of the altar boys, Jude. The problem is, Sofia can't stand the rabbit and has her own crush on Jude.
Then things start to happen...Leena breaks her leg during a rehearsal for the school play. Then the rabbit dies. Leena sees Jude getting a little too close to Sofia, and dies in a fire that night. These events convince Sofia that she has a demon attached to her somehow. She tells this to Jude, who tries to exorcise the demon himself. Things go downhill from there.
There's a third book in this series, so I will likely end up reading it, just for closure. While this installment was ok, it was nowhere near as riveting as the first book.
Ok, so I read the first book in this series about seven months ago, and although this was out then, I was waiting to get it in paperback. I hate paying big bucks for hardbacks when it will likely only take a couple of hours to read. All told, this one didn't take long, much like its predecessor.
This one picks up roughly six months after the events in the first book. Everyone on Sofia's block is moving away because no one wants to live near the murder house. Sofia herself is battling anxiety because they never found Brooklyn, and she thinks Brooklyn is out to get her. Sofia is having one such attack and calls her mother. It's Thanksgiving, and her mother is working, but trying to get off early to be with Sofia. Sofia has some hallucinations and then blacks out. She is awakened by someone knocking on the front door. It's a police officer who has come to tell Sofia that her mother was killed in a car accident.
As Sofia is not yet eighteen, she cannot live by herself, and because her grandmother can't even take care of herself, she can't take care of Sofia too. Her only option, really, is to go to a Catholic boarding school a couple of hours away. Once there, she becomes friends with her roommates, Leena and Sutton. Leena has a forbidden pet rabbit and a crush on one of the altar boys, Jude. The problem is, Sofia can't stand the rabbit and has her own crush on Jude.
Then things start to happen...Leena breaks her leg during a rehearsal for the school play. Then the rabbit dies. Leena sees Jude getting a little too close to Sofia, and dies in a fire that night. These events convince Sofia that she has a demon attached to her somehow. She tells this to Jude, who tries to exorcise the demon himself. Things go downhill from there.
There's a third book in this series, so I will likely end up reading it, just for closure. While this installment was ok, it was nowhere near as riveting as the first book.
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Summer '17 Book 15
The Cabin by Natasha Preston
This is the third book I have read by this author, and by far, the best. The Cellar had potential to be a good read, but I felt it dragged, and Awake was just lacking overall. This, however, was good.
Summer is almost over for Mackenzie and her friends, and they are all going to a cabin that belongs to the boyfriend of Kenzie's best friend, Courtney, for the weekend. It's to be a last hurrah before they all head off to university. there was a lot of drinking going on, and Kenzie has a one night stand with the brother of Courtney's boyfriend.
The next morning, Makenzie and Blake go downstairs for breakfast and make an unsettling discovery: Courtney and her boyfriend, Josh, have been murdered. Stabbed to death. Worse, it had to be one of those in the house who committed the crime. Makenzie doesn't want to believe that her closest friends could have killed their other friends, but she also doesn't believe Blake did it, even though everyone else does.
It becomes an obsession with Makenzie to find out who killed her friends. Between Blake and herself, they uncover who committed the crime--or do they? Twists right up to the end in this book.
This is the third book I have read by this author, and by far, the best. The Cellar had potential to be a good read, but I felt it dragged, and Awake was just lacking overall. This, however, was good.
Summer is almost over for Mackenzie and her friends, and they are all going to a cabin that belongs to the boyfriend of Kenzie's best friend, Courtney, for the weekend. It's to be a last hurrah before they all head off to university. there was a lot of drinking going on, and Kenzie has a one night stand with the brother of Courtney's boyfriend.
The next morning, Makenzie and Blake go downstairs for breakfast and make an unsettling discovery: Courtney and her boyfriend, Josh, have been murdered. Stabbed to death. Worse, it had to be one of those in the house who committed the crime. Makenzie doesn't want to believe that her closest friends could have killed their other friends, but she also doesn't believe Blake did it, even though everyone else does.
It becomes an obsession with Makenzie to find out who killed her friends. Between Blake and herself, they uncover who committed the crime--or do they? Twists right up to the end in this book.
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